Affiliations: [a] University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg-Kirchberg, Luxembourg. E-mail: sybren.dekinderen@uni.lu
| [b] Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, Luxembourg. E-mail: qin.ma@list.lu
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Sybren de Kinderen, University of Luxembourg, 6, rue Coudenhove-Kalergi, Luxembourg-Kirchberg, Luxembourg. E-mail: sybren.dekinderen@uni.lu.
Note: [] Accepted by: Hans Weigand and Paul Johannesson
Abstract: Conceptual modeling languages are purposeful artifacts, hence their design should also start from the purpose that they serve. Such purposeful design addresses the requirements engineering concern of a language specification being aligned with the goals of its users. Thereby relevance of the language is ensured, instead of developing a language for language’s sake. We posit that this addresses some known issues that are due to a misalignment between a language’s specification and the goals of its intended users. In this paper, we introduce vGREL, a goal- and value-oriented approach for purposeful language development. vGREL helps language engineers to start the design of conceptual modeling languages with requirements engineering exercises. To this end vGREL provides (1) a purpose driven requirements engineering process for language design; (2) a value profile for the Goal-oriented Requirements Language (GRL) to enable analysis and reasoning during the process and capture its results; and leverages (3) the software tool support of GRL for decision making during language design. To illustrate vGREL, we apply it to a case study on responsibility-based access rights management. Furthermore, we present reflections on vGREL from the language engineer involved in the case study.
Keywords: Modeling language design, requirements engineering, goal modeling
